Rideshare regulation controversy – Part II

Even though the Seattle City Council passed new ridesharing rules last week the brouhaha over how to regulate app-based car services could be far from over. An initiative filed with the city clerk last Friday would amend the City Council's recent legislation by nixing the 150-driver cap imposed on each rideshare service operating in the city. Initiative 111 would also reduce the annual fee that rideshare companies like Lyft, Uber and Sidecar pay the city from $50,000, or or 0.35 percent of their revenue, to $500.Meanwhile, another group announced on Facebook yesterday that it would begin gathering signatures to get a referendum placed on the ballot that would repeal the council’s legislation entirely. It’s not clear who is behind the repeal effort, which is offering signature gatherers up to $3 per signature along with money for travel and lodging. Lyft and Uber did not respond to requests for comment about the referendum. John Michael, listed as a contact on the Facebook page, said he did not know whom reporters should call to get information. Michael has worked in the past with a group called Progressive Campaigns, Inc., a “petitions management firm,” based in Los Angeles.Initiative 111 backers are a group called Yes! Rideshare Seattle. The group is affiliated with the Democracy Workshop, which has pushed past initiatives to ban interstate tolls, terminate the Highway 99 Tunnel Project and lower liquor taxes. Democracy Workshop’s program administrator, Elizabeth A. Campbell, recently filed an initiative that would increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 for many workers, while cutting taxes for businesses. She also submitted an ethics complaint earlier this month against councilmember Kshama Sawant. Campbell said the Democracy Workshop had been in touch with “a couple” representatives from rideshare services, but did not say which ones.